The one cloud on the EDS Atlantic Challenge horizon has been blown away. Kingfisher’s excellent win and Ecover’s gritty third place results in the third leg were subject to a protest by Gartmore.

Skipper Josh Hall alleged that the two other British boats had been receiving ocean current information contrary to race instructions.

The International Jury has informed the EDS Atlantic Challenge Race Committee that the protest lodged by Gartmore was found to be invalid at the pre-hearing stage – it didn’t qualify as a protest.

The rules governing the lodging of protests state that the protest must be lodged within four hours of discovering the alleged breach. In this case, the Jury ruled that this period had been exceeded and so the protest was invalid.